I tried flying on Iceland's low-cost Primera Air and learned first-hand that cramped seats and carry-on fees aren't even close to the biggest downside of budget airlines

Once it was clear we were delayed, I joined several other passengers asking about what was happening. They didn't have any information for us — at all. Not where the flight was, when it was expected to be ready, or why we were delayed.

While it was clear we were delayed, the screens hadn't been updated with that information.

I passed the time by eating goat cheese from duty free and watching Netflix on my phone. At least the airport had good Wifi.

Primera's media team sent me an emailed statement on July 24, a day after I had reached out for a comment for this article. It read:

Our regular procedure in case of delay and cancellation due to operational, technical or other reason is that as soon as we receive information about the issues that have an impact on a scheduled flight, we send a message to passengers and request meal vouchers as well as hotel from our ground handling partners in particular airport.

However, I didn't receive a meal voucher — or any message at all — from the airline on that day.

Some people were furious, banging on the tables and yelling at the gate agents. One passenger even tried to steal a pen from the gate agent's booth when he wasn't looking. She threw it back on the table when he asked for it back.

Primera passengers were camped out around the airport — people were laying on the floor.

For what seemed to be the first time, the gate agent began to make an official announcement over the microphone.

As predicted, our flight was canceled. We were instructed to look out for an email from Primera and to retrieve our bags from baggage claim.

In the statement emailed to me on July 24, Primera apologized and told me my flight was canceled for technical reasons and "operated by euroAtlantic on behalf of Primera Air."

Meanwhile, my fellow passengers were taking to Twitter:

Hey @primeraair thanks for canceling our flight from Paris and ignoring my requests for new flight info. Horrible service. @YourEuropeEu any advice? ##familyvacation #stuckinparis #flights #primeraair #nightmare #horribleairlines #europe

— Rachel Perez (@hevgenjazlisse) July 21, 2018

Never fly @primeraair - our flight was delayed, delayed, and now CANCELLED out of CDG. I just want I be home 😭

— Nelle McDade (@nelle_mcdade) July 22, 2018

Sincerely hope @primeraAir complied with claims and reimbursement because there are enough ppl on this flight alone for a nice lawsuit.

— TeeTee (@SweetTee720) July 21, 2018

@primeraair flight from Paris to NYC cancelled. Still at the airport with no news and no rescheduling.#badcustomerservice #NeverAgain

— Cristina Bertarelli (@M2YBM) July 22, 2018

As Primera told me in the statement for this article:

"Messages about flight status were sent to all passengers whose contacts were provided to us. We investigated your booking and as you had a reservation via Kiwi.com, all updates about flight status were sent to Kiwi.

"We don’t have passenger’s contact information in case it’s made through another platform."

I made my booking through Kiwi.com, a Czech Republic-based flight booker.

Due to Primera's inability to contact passengers if they didn't make a reservation through their website, I was stranded in a foreign country, had no idea where I was going to sleep, and how I was going to get home.

People were walking towards the doors to line up for buses going to an unidentified hotel. I asked on Twitter for someone to send me the email, and for the email from someone in line.

I ultimately received it. It read:

Dear Passenger,

Unfortunately, we have to announce cancellation of flight PF21 CDG EWR 21 JULY due to technical reasons.

Please, contact ground handling Alyzia for hotel accommodation.

For assistance, we can offer you the following options:

1. Full refund, please request via info@primeraair.com

2. Rebook on any other date or flight operated by Primera Air, please request via info@primeraair.com

3. Purchase new flight ticket on your own and we will reimburse the costs up to 1500 EUR per passenger, all receipts with bank details must be sent to refund@primeraair.com

For compensation, please contact us via claims@primeraair.com

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A32004R0261

We apologise for such inconveniences.

Even though it was clear we wouldn't be sleeping in an airport terminal, everyone around me was still tense. Many were checking flights, calculating how many more hundreds or thousands they would have to spend to get home.

A young couple behind me in line at the hotel seemed particularly stressed. They were missing layovers in New York and Detroit in order to pick up their children from grandparents in Minneapolis, and then fly as a family back to Portland.

It showed me how lucky I was, sort of. I wasn't missing any connections as I live in New York. And unlike another passenger, who was in tears, I wasn't missing work the next day.

Folks were split on whether they should wait for rebooking information with Primera or book an entirely new flight home.

For the latter option, I was hesitant. Online comments and even a dedicated @donotflyprimera Twitter account strongly indicated that my one-way flight might not ultimately be reimbursed. And next-morning flights to New York were going for $1,200.

Finally had to buy a flight on @AirFranceMX to get to #newyork after quite the #travelnightmare. With @primeraair. Just happy we found a way out.

— Bernardo (@mexber) July 22, 2018

Admittedly, I got lucky with my relatively short wait in line — it was at most 30 minutes until I got in my room.

The front desk receptionists at the Marriott were pleasant and charming, despite the sudden rush of customers. Apparently Primera also hadn't alerted them about the hundreds of people that were about to arrive in their lobby, one receptionist told me as he checked me in.

I asked if this sort of thing happens to them a lot. "With this airline, yeah," the receptionist told me.

I was also told by the receptionist that Primera would tell them about new flight information in the morning, so I set my alarm for 7 a.m.

With few options, I booked a flight through Norwegian Air. This flight was scheduled to depart from Paris at 10:40 a.m., have a six-hour layover in Oslo, and arrive at 7:30 p.m. in New York.

It cost $1,249.27.

My original booking, with three flights, including a direct flight from Paris to New York, cost $898.00.

I took an Uber to the airport, shared with another would-be Primera passenger. While I got into my room quickly last night, he had apparently waited until 3 a.m. for his own room.

My six-hour layover in Oslo, where I decided not to leave the airport due to exhaustion, was predictably boring. We were also detained on the JFK airport's tarmac for two hours.

I arrived home at midnight on Sunday and had work the next morning. I was supposed to arrive at 8 p.m. on Saturday so I had some time to adjust from jet lag.

Primera owed me $1,950.89 in total for the combined cost of my new Norwegian Air flight and passenger rights compensation as required by European Union law.

I sent Primera my request for compensation for my flight on July 23. They also owe me, under EU regulations, 600.00 euros ($701.62) for cancelling my flight.

On July 30, flight booking site Kiwi.com issued me a $500.38 refund for my canceled flight.

I have called and emailed Primera several times over the past month. I was told that it will take up to 30 days for a response.

On August 21, Primera informed me that they would compensate me the remaining 619.33 euros ($724.21) to pay for my Norwegian Air flight, and would deliver this to my bank account in the next 40 days.

The airline didn't mention the additional $701.62 required by EU law. When I emailed them to follow up about that legally-mandated compensation, I immediately received this response:

Please accept our apologies and rest assured that we are making every effort to respond as quickly as possible, at the latest within 30 working days.

Airlines like Primera Air save costs by not hiring as many customer service representatives or using third-party staffing agencies to fill those roles, Business Insider's Benjamin Zhang reported.

In a statement, Primera told me that they are hiring more customer service agents "to make sure that in case of delayed or cancelled flight we are able to help the passengers."

They also are less likely to have partnerships with other airlines where you can fly out in case something is wrong with your flight. Think of the SkyTeam air alliance, comprised of companies like Delta, KLM, and Korean Air. If your flight from Seoul is canceled with Korean Air, for example, they have the option to just place you on a Delta flight.

But when my flight was canceled, they weren't able to just push me to another flight. When Primera couldn't get its new Airbus planes in June this year, they had to cancel all of their transatlantic summer flights from Birmingham, UK — putting the kibosh on thousands of summer travel plans.

They've since halted all of their operations from Birmingham.

"If they don’t resolve the problems, they will likely back off from Atlantic market or disappear," George Hamlin, an airline consultant with 40 years of experience, told me. "If you want to be in the long term, you need to avoid dying in the short run."

We typically think carriers like Spirit and RyanAir are irritating because the seats are squished or they charge you too much for a carry-on.

But the real downfall of flying on the super-cheap is when things go wrong, Zhang told me. There are fewer customer service reps to help you, and they might take months to refund you.

As Hamlin said, "You pay for what you get."